A30598:327
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
The rare jewel of Christian contentment wherein is showed, I. What contentment is, II. The holy art or mystery of it, III. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment, IV. The excellencies of it, V. The evils of murmuring, VII. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring / by Jeremiah Burroughs.The rare jewel of Christian contentment wherein is shewed, I. What contentment is, II. The holy art or mystery of it, III. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment, IV. The excellencies of it, V. The evils of murmuring, VII. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring / by Jeremiah Burroughs.
London: printed for Peter Cole, 1649
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. It doth unfit you for duty: A man or woman that is in a contented frame, you may turn such a one to any thing at any time, he is fit for to go to God at any time; but when one is in a discontented condition, then a man or woman is exceeding ⟨p. 135⟩unfit for the service of God. And it causes many distractions in duty, it unfits for duty, and when you come to perform duties, Oh the distractions that are in your duties, when your spirits are discontented; when you hear of any ill news from Sea and cannot bear it, or of any ill from a friend, or any loss or cross, Oh what distractions do they cause in the performance of holy duties! When you should be in enjoying communion with God, you are distracted in your thoughts about the cross that hath befallen you, whereas had you but a quiet spirit, though there should great crosses befall you, yet they would never hinder you in the performance of any duty.
2. It doth unfit you for duty: A man or woman that is in a contented frame, you may turn such a one to any thing at any time, he is fit for to go to God at any time; but when one is in a discontented condition, then a man or woman is exceeding ⟨p. 135⟩unfit for the service of God. And it causes many distractions in duty, it unfits for duty, and when you come to perform duties, Oh the distractions that are in your duties, when your spirits are discontented; when you hear of any ill news from Sea and cannot bear it, or of any ill from a friend, or any losse or crosse, Oh what distractions do they cause in the performance of holy duties! When you should be in enjoying communion with God, you are distracted in your thoughts about the crosse that hath befallen you, whereas had you but a quiet spirit, though there should great crosses befal you, yet they would never hinder you in the performance of any duty.
3 Consider what wicked risings of heart, & resolutions of spirit there are many times in a discontented fit. In some discontented fits the heart rises against God, and against others, and sometimes hath even desperate resolutions what to do to help themselves. If the Lord should have suffered you to have done, (sometimes in a discontented fit) what you had thought to do, what wonderful misery had you brought upon your selves! Oh it was a mercy of God that did stop you, had not God stopped you, but let you go on when you thought to help your selves this way and the other way, Oh it had been ill with you, do you but remember those risings of heart and wicked resolutions that sometimes you have had in a discontented mood, and learn to be humbled upon that.